A beautiful read, with fantastic story building and character development. I loved the worlds politics, and couldn’t put it down. Such a good read!

This book is incredible! The pacing made the book go by so fast, and the characters are all full of depth. The magic system is very intriguing. I also enjoyed the unique setting, which had influences from cultures not typically depicted in fantasy novels. I highly recommend this book to fans of The Poppy War Trilogy by RF Kuang and The Broken Earth Trilogy by NK Jemisin.

Saara El-Arifi is clearly one of the brightest new voices in the fantasy genre. I can't wait for Book Two in this series, The Battle Drum!

This was really well written. The world building had a good amount of complexity, but it was clearly told so it wasn't confusing. I'm looking forward to the second book and finding out what happens next. I'm particularly intrigued by one thing that came out of nowhere right towards the end! The only thing stopping me from giving it a five star is that it felt really slow throughout and seemed very long generally. I think a faster pace would have helped keep me more engaged and want to keep picking it back up more.

What a masterful debut. This was gorgeous with intricate world building and compelling characters. I was swept away in this breath taking novel - I adored it.

Sometimes new fantasy books don't always hit the mark and are a little disappointing compared to the high praise I've been influenced into thinking about from online reviews. However I went into this with zero expectations, I didn't even know what it was about until I saw the author speak at Cymera, and I loved it! The world and the magic felt familiar yet interesting, I liked that it was a world in which queerness wasn't questioned and accepted, which isn't common in a lot of fantasy so it was refreshing. I liked the dynamic of our main protagonists and how they learned from each other. This was simply an enjoyable new fantasy, whose sequel I am really looking forward to.

A chosen one who DIDN’T save the world
- A cruel and divided Empire
- Friends To Lovers
- LQBTQ+ and DISABILITY rep.

Honestly, I don’t know when I’ll stop talking about this book this is a GOD TIER fantasy read. Everyone once in a while a book feels like it was created for you, this is one of those books. Saara El-Arfifi has become an auto-buy author easily standing alongside Samantha Shannon, Brandon Sanderson and NK Jemisin and that is not something I’d ever say lightly.

This book is just phenomenal. Saara’s world-building will draw you in and transport you into the world she has created. Her characters will make you feel things and her plots will have you hooked.

This book has my heart especially with natural inclusiveness with both lgbtq+ and disability rep. Not only that but we get to see all the characters navigate the world in a their own way.

Expect magic, action, adventure, suspense, romances and a plot that will keep you hooked. All with political intrigue and the promise of change on the horizon. This book both allows pure escapism, whilst highlighting the reality of all kinds of discrimination in our own world.

Honestly, this is one of the best debuts I've read in a long time. Saara is truly a piece of magic that has been brought to life to produce the most fantastic fantasy I've ever read. I am SO excited for the next instalment.
This is an epic fantasy that every fantasy lover needs to read

Unfortunately I ended up not loving this one as much as I'd hoped. The worldbuilding was spectacular, and I liked that El-Arifi takes the time to build up the world and all the details, but it felt a little like the book got lost because of the world. The characters didn't grab me, and I was not overly invested in any of their storylines, and in the end I finished this one because I wanted to spend more time in the world, not because of the story or characters.

It took me a while to read this book but boy was it worth it!

I really enjoyed the first book in this series and can't wait to read the next. The characters were richly developed, the relationships complex and believable and the world well thought out both easy to imagine and also unspeakably bleak and brutal at times. I didn't see most of the twists coming even though the clues had been placed throughout.
I did think the world building for the first part of the book took quite a while, but once it got going it was gripping.

An engaging fantasy world with a morally grey main character who you will grow to love.

Sylah was raised for one thing - to bring down the red-blooded ruling class, and give power to the blue-blooded working class who have raised her. However, when everything goes wrong, she ends up in the slums fighting for sport and slowly giving in to her addiction. Until a drunken encounter with the woman she was replaced by changes her life in ways she could never have imagined.

I love the world that the author has created in this novel. The world building is phenomenal and I felt like I was told everything I needed to know about the magic, caste system, and history without being overwhelmed with too much exposition.
The characters were engaging, if not particularly likeable at times, and I loved seeing their arcs as they developed through the story.
The magic was similarly intriguing and I’m excited to learn more about it in the next book in the series, which I will definitely be buying!

Overall, this was a really engaging fantasy novel. I can’t wait to see where the series goes next!

I could not get into the book. The prose wasn't as good as I was expecting. And it's been too long and I find myself not interested in reading this book anymore. I apologize.

And still I can hear the drum beat, as another night falls and another story is going to be told accompanied by the drums of the storyteller.

This is an amazing novel that takes us deep into a hierarchical and brutal society where everything seems corrupt and seems to get even more so, the moment you dig deeper.

And yet, lives have got to be lived and obstacles have to be overcome.

I loved how the author brought the three main POVs, their back stories and their connectedness together.

I am looking forward to see how the story unfolds in book two.

An interesting premise, but reminded me of similar stories in this genre.
A well paced storyline did keep me engaged, but I did not love it as much as I would have wanted to.

I did enjoy the idea of this story with all the different races of humans in a very hierarchical system.

It takes way too long to find out exactly what Sylah's role is as a large part of the beginning of the book is about her on drugs and her taking drugs which really isn't entertaining.

I did really like the relationships between Sylah and her friends and the inclusion in the romantic part of her life.

The actual fighting action scenes isn't what really interests me, it's finding out more about the history of the land, the blood magic and where exactly all the different blooded races of humans come from which I will read book 2 and hopefully get these questions answered.

Such an enjoyable book! Even if it takes a little bit too much for you to be totally immersed in the story, once you get in, it's really hard to not keep reading. As someone that doesn't enjoy long books, this book made me question that, a lot. But something I know, it's that the author did an amazing job at keeping us interested, building an astonishing world building, with remarkable main characters and a story to never forget.
The Final Strife sets in a world where class and power are the main point and we follow three women Sylah, Anoor and Hassa.
The three of them being complex, multifaceted, and very distinctive.
So excited for the future of this series and the author!

This was one of the best fantasy novels I have read this year. The world building is on an epic scale and although it does seem like a lot of information dumping to begin with if you stick with it it pays off. The three main female characters are all able to carry the plot well, although I preferred Sylah and Hassa's points of view more than Anoor's. I think Anoor could have been fleshed out a bit more and she seemed to conveniently complete the trials rather quickly. Nevertheless, I totally forgive that due to the rich world we are immersed in. Some of the plot is brutal and doesn't shy away from descriptions of torture to really give characterisation, especially to Hassa and the Ghostings. I loved the magic system even though it wasn't overly prominent to the story, the use of blood work and runes was done well and the undercurrent of addiction which runs through is honest and raw.

I already read this book a while ago, however I haven't been able to write a review because it took a while to put in words HOW GOOD this book was.

The Final Strife is a strong debut based on Ghanian mythology. Set in a hierarchical world where people are divided based on their blood, where 20 years ago people from a rebelling faction of the working class stole infants from the ruling Embers and replaced them with their own children. Sylah, an Ember raised by this now-wiped out rebellion, grieves for her adoptive family. Addicted to drugs and fighting to survive,

This story is highly engaging. It's an honest tale about addiction, oppression and questions what divides one class from another. The characters feel flawed and multidimensional and I loved seeing them grow throughout the book. Another thing I adored about the choice of POV characters was how we saw all levels of the society in this world - ruling class, the criminal underworld and the working class.
The twists in the book are nicely foreshadowed and each revelation really gave meaning to the bigger picture.

There is blood magic in this book, however the way it was presented didn't feel like self-harm, which is refreshing in a fantasy book. For people who feel uncomfortable about this: in the world, blood magic is used to inscribe runes. The ones capable of blood magic use a stylus and a device strapped to their forearm which is strongly reminiscent of how blood is drawn.

Anyway, this book only became stronger with each scene. It's one of the best books I read this year, and I can't wait to see where Sylah's, Anoor and Hassa's journeys go next.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher to give me an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Sadly, this one wasn't for me. Excellent premise, but I just couldn't get into it. A me problem, I think!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the early access!

I loved this book, and can't wait for my beautiful Goldsboro edition!

I really enjoyed this book. It took a while for me to get into it and it took a long time to read, but I’m glad I stuck with it. Although it didn’t feel slow, it was taking me a long time to read. There’s quite a lot of history and background at the beginning and I was a bit confused at times, but once the main storyline started I really enjoyed it. I also really liked the characters. They were fun to read about and I became very invested in what was happening to them. I didn’t love the main storyline and I think this is because it’s similar to a few books that I’ve read in the past, so it didn’t feel very original. But the characters and deeper storyline are what made me enjoy this book so much. I would definitely recommend this book and I’m hoping there’s a book two coming as I need to know what happens next!